The computer games of today are the rage, and such games require extreme speed in up-down, left-right and diagonal cursor movements on a computer screen. Since the computer user is actually playing a game against high speed computer software or opponents online, the pointer on the computer screen must be manually moved with skillful eye-to-hand coordination in order for a user/player to “win”. Thus, computer game playing demands precise control, skill, swift and accurate movement and timely and positive depression of control buttons on a manually moveable pointer control. Attempts to use mouse configurations for FPS game playing have not proved successful.
In a related application entitled Finger Tip Pointer Control, Ser. No. 09/955,252—now abandoned—finger tip control was described as achieving desired health improvements by reducing unnatural wrist-like movements experienced by standard center wheel mouse structures. Even less unnatural movements are now described and claimed herein by my FPS game playing structure. The cited art of that application is not considered pertinent to this invention but its presence should be noted.
Some health risks associated with mouse and computer use include Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (“CTS”), sometimes referred to as Repetitive Motion Injury (“RMI”). CTS/RMI results from pressure developed on the median nerve, which nerve is located in the wrist's “carpal tunnel” formed by carpal bones and a transverse carpal ligament. Such pressure may cause swelling and ultimately pinched and painful throbbing, tingling or numbness in the hand and fingers.
Some users actually lift the mouse itself and this lifting, together with sliding and/or rotation of the mouse inevitably results in hasty, erratic and jerky cursor movement. Excessive hand and arm activity uses up time and energy that could be more beneficially spent in a FPS game playing situation. My FPS achieves such speed and accuracy and eliminates many of the unnatural movements associated with CTS/RMI.
A conventional mouse has a central wheel and a plurality of forwardly-located switches. More recently, even a wireless mouse has been announced, which mouse includes batteries and radio transmission of signals representative of the switching and tracking functions between control and computer. In such prior art, switches are normally located on the right and left hand sides of a middle wheel. Both rubber ball and/or optical sensors are available although only one or the other—not both—are normally used.
Optical sensors of the type employed in my FPS may be of any known types such as that marketed by Agilent and as fully described in a series of technical papers available on the Internet under the Agilent menu for Optical Devices. The titles of such Agilent papers include: Solid-State Optical Mouse Sensor with PS/2 and Quadrature Outputs, Solid State Optical Mouse LED Assembly Clip, Radiometrically Tested AlInGaP II LED Lamps for Sensor-Based Applications, Solid-State Optical Mouse Sensor and Solid-State Optical Mouse Lens. These technical papers fully describe the operation of such an optical sensor and need not be repeated here. Such papers, by this reference, are incorporated herein as though set forth in full.